1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a member with skin that comprises a substrate, and a skin covering the substrate.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many members with skin have been known heretofore, members which comprise a substrate, and a skin that covers the substrate. For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (KOKAI) Gazette No. 2008-94,126, and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (KOKAI) Gazette No. 2008-100,453 disclose some of conventional members with skin, respectively. FIG. 6 is an enlarged perspective view for illustrating a major part of one of the conventional members with skin. FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional diagram for illustrating how the conventional member with skin being shown in FIG. 6 appears when it is cut at a position that is specified with the chain double-dashed line “7”-“7” in FIG. 6. The conventional member with skin will be hereinafter described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7.
For example, the one of the conventional members with skin comprises a substrate 101, and a skin 105, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7. As illustrated in FIG. 7, the skin 105 is made by stitching two skin sheets 106 and 107 together; and the skin sheets 106 and 107 are disposed so as to face the front opposite faces face-to-face inwardly, as shown in the drawing. Moreover, as illustrated in the drawing and FIG. 6, stitches 200 between the skin sheets 106 and 107 are exposed over one of the side faces of the substrate 101. More specifically, in the conventional member with skin that is shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the skin sheet 105 has a rear face 105b that is disposed to face and then cover the substrate 101. In addition, the conventional member with skin is provided with the stitches 200 that are exposed between the skin sheets 105 and 106 over one of the side faces of the substrate 101. Thus, the conventional member with skin displays a predetermined decoration on the peripheral end.
In such a conventional member with skin, a stitching allowance 150 between the skin sheets 106 and 107 is put in place behind the rear opposite face 105b of the skin 105 to face one of the side faces of the substrate 101. The “stitching allowance” herein designates an allowance for stitching the skin sheets 106 and 107 together, that is, a part of the skin sheet 106 and a part of the other skin sheet 107 that are present on the outer side with respect to the resulting stitches 200 before stitching the skin sheets 106 and 107 together. Accordingly, the skin 105 has floated above or separated from the substrate 101 by a thickness of the stitching allowance 150 at around the part that is adjacent to the stitches 200. The part that floats above the substrate 101 will be hereinafter referred to as a “peripheral-end skin portion 160.” If the peripheral-end skin portion 160 should have floated above the substrate 101 in varying floating magnitudes, the peripheral-end skin portion 160 degrades the decorativeness in the conventional member with skin. In general, however, the peripheral-end skin portion 160 has been controlled over the floating height “L3” and floating width “L4” from the substrate 101 in the following manner: the peripheral-end skin portion 160 and stitching allowance 150 are fastened together by stitching (namely, sewing or carrying out a French seam) so that the peripheral-end skin portion 160 wraps around the stitching allowance 150, as illustrated in FIG. 7. Moreover, the peripheral-end skin portion 160 that has undergone a French seam can give the conventional member with skin a bead-like (or pipe-shaped) decoration.
Incidentally, the peripheral-end skin portion 160 generally makes a three-dimensional configuration in the conventional member with skin. Accordingly, the peripheral-end skin portion 160 is sewed together as it is folded and bent in a relatively complicated form. Consequently, when subjecting the conventional member with skin to a French seam to make the peripheral-end skin portion 160, twists, undulations, or wrinkles might occur in the resulting peripheral-end skin portion 160, as shown in FIG. 6. If twists, undulations, or wrinkles should have arisen in the peripheral-end skin portion 160, the resultant conventional member with skin would have deteriorated in the decorativeness. Moreover, it is a tiresome and difficult operation for an assembly worker or robot to cover the substrate 101 with the skin 105 while positioning the peripheral-end skin portion 160 highly accurately with respect to the substrate 101. In addition, the decorativeness of the conventional member with skin might be impaired by the peripheral-end skin portion 160 that should have been displaced with respect to the substrate 101.